Birds of a feather

Merry Xmas everyone!

2010-12-23T13:19:00.001-08:00

As you might have noticed the feathergirls haven't been blogging frequentely lately. We all started with much enthusiasm and our blog was filled with daily inspiration. But as time passed by we noticed that it isn't always easy to combine it next to our daily life, filled with work, family, our own blogs etc. We're not planning to quit with our lovely feathergirls blog, but it's under reconstruction ;)

We also would like to hear your opinion about our blog so far, so feel free to leave a comment!

Wishing all of our readers a lovely, cozy and magical Christmas ♥

Love,

the feathergirls

DIY -headband with glittery stars-

2010-12-23T13:07:00.000-08:00

DIY - headband with glittery stars-

You will need:

- a crochethook

- silver yarn and thicker purple yarn

-purple stars from foam

-needle

-embroidery thread

If you don't know how to crochet, just look

over at you tube and you will find lot's of

instruction videos how to do so.

Use two pieces of yarn and make 60 singles.

Now add the foam purple stars by using your

embroidery thread and secure them with

a single stitch. Make sure they are tight,

but not to tight!

ta da you're glittery stars headband is ready!

It was not easy to make a good picture,

but i think this one will do ;)

XO. Vera

ps If you like to see more inspiration + DIY's, take a look over at my own blog Seni with love ♥

Christmas decorations DIY: owl

2010-12-06T06:18:00.000-08:00

Supplies:
2,5 mm hook
matching cotton yarn

Terms used:
ch = chain
sc = single crochet
dc = double crochet
dec = decrease, single crochet two stitches together
st = stitch

This pattern is worked in spirals. The rows are not closed. The new row starts in the first stitch of the previous row.

Pattern:
body:
ch2 (or use a magic loop)
1) 6sc in 2nd st from hook (or 6sc in magic loop)
2) 2sc in each st around (12 sc)
3) (2sc in first st, sc in next st), repeat around (18 sc)
4) (2sc in first st, sc in next 2 st), repeat around (24 sc)
5) (2sc in first st, sc in next 3 st), repeat around (30 sc)
6) (2sc in first st, sc in next 4 st), repeat around (36 sc)
7-22) sc in each st around (36 sc)
23) (dec, sc in next 4 st) in back loops, repeat around (30 sc)
24) (dec, sc in next 3 st), repeat around (24 sc)
25) (dec, sc in next 2 st), repeat around (18 sc)
26) (dec, sc in next st), repeat around (12 sc)
STUFF
27) (dec), repeat around (6 sc)
FINISH OFF

eyes (make 2):
ch2 (or use a magic loop)
1) 6sc in 2nd st from hook (or 6sc in magic loop)
2) 2sc in each st around (12 sc)
3) (2sc in first st, sc in next st), repeat around (18 sc)
FINISH OFF

ears (make 2):
ch2
2sc in 2nd st from hook
FINISH OFF

wings (make 2):
ch7
1) sc in 2nd st from hook, sc in next 4 st, 8dc in last st of chain
Keep on working in the established direction, the next stitches are worked in beginning chain
sc in next 4 st, 3sc in last st before the first st of this round
2) sc in next 5 st, 2sc in next 8 st, sc in next 4 st, (2sc) in next 3 st
3) sc in next 5 st, (2sc, sc in next st) 8 times, sc in next 4 st, (2sc, sc in next st) 3 times
4) sc in next 5 st
FINISH OFF

Make the pupils, beak and feet out of felt

Sew the wings, ears and eyes to the body.
Use glue to paste the pupils, beak and feet to the body.

Liever Nederlands? Het originele, Nederlandse patroon staat op mijn eigen blog.

Christmas decorations DIY: christmas tree

2010-12-06T06:14:00.000-08:00

Supplies:
2,5 mm hook
matching cotton yarn

Terms used:
ch = chain
sc = single crochet
dec = decrease, single crochet two stitches together
st = stitch

This pattern is worked in spirals. The rows are not closed. The new row starts in the first stitch of the previous row.

Pattern:
Tree:
ch2 (or use a magic loop)
1) 6sc in 2nd st from hook (or 6sc in magic loop)
2-3) sc in each st around (6 sc)
4) 2sc in each st around (12 sc)
5-6) sc in each st around (12 sc)
7) (2sc in first st, sc in next st), repeat around (18 sc)
8-9) sc in each st around) (18 sc)
10) (2sc in first st, sc in next 2 st), repeat around (24 sc)
11-12) sc in each st around (24 sc)
13) (2sc in first st, sc in next 3 st), repeat around (30 sc)
14-15) sc in each st around (30 sc)
16) (2sc in first st, sc in next 4 st), repeat around (36 sc)
17-18) sc in each st around (36 sc)
19) (dec, sc in next 4 st) in back loops, repeat around (30 sc)
20) (dec, sc in next 3 st), repeat around (24 sc)
21) (dec, sc in next 2 st), repeat around (18 sc)
22) (dec, sc in next st), repeat around (12 sc)
STUFF
23) (dec), repeat around (6 sc)
FINISH OFF

Stem:
ch2 (or use a magic loop)
1) 6sc in 2nd st from hook (or 6sc in magic loop)
2) 2sc in each st around (12 sc)
3-5) sc in each st around (12 sc)
FINISH OFF

Put a little bit of stuffing in the stem and sew it to the bottom of the tree.

Use colored thread to embroider the decorations on the tree.

Liever Nederlands? Het originele, Nederlandse patroon staat op mijn eigen blog.

Christmas decorations DIY: christmas ball

2010-12-06T06:09:00.000-08:00

Supplies:
2,5 mm hook
matching cotton yarn

Terms used:
ch = chain
sc = single crochet
dec = decrease, single crochet two stitches together
3dec = decrease three stitches, single crochet three stitches together
st = stitch

This pattern is worked in spirals. The rows are not closed. The new row starts in the first stitch of the previous row.

Pattern:
ch2 (or use a magic loop)
1) 6sc in 2nd st from hook (or 6sc in magic loop)
2) 2sc in each st around (12 sc)
3) (2sc in first st, sc in next st), repeat around (18 sc)
4) (2sc in first st, sc in next 2 st), repeat around (24 sc)
5) (2sc in first st, sc in next 3 st), repeat around (30 sc)
6) (2sc in first st, sc in next 4 st), repeat around (36 sc)
7-12) sc in each st around (36 sc)
13) (dec, sc in next 4 st), repeat around (30 sc)
14) (dec, sc in next 3 st), repeat around (24 sc)
15) (dec, sc in next 2 st), repeat around (18 sc)
16) (dec, sc in next st), repeat around (12 sc)
STUFF
17) (dec), repeat around (6 sc)
18) 3dec, 3dec, ch15
Cut off yarn, leaving a little tail. Use the tail to sew the top of the chain to the top of the ball, making a loop to hang the ball from.
FINISH OFF

Liever Nederlands? Het originele, Nederlandse patroon staat op mijn eigen blog.

DIY -Make your own Xmas soap garland-

2010-11-18T07:53:00.000-08:00

It's DIY time!! I made this a few days ago over at my own blog and also will share it here. For today we are gonna make a Xmas soap garland. It's not a whole new concept, but i have made one with mixed materials. You can hang it in your bathroom or toilet, just for a little Xmas feelin' (and it smells great!) or make one as a Xmas gift :)

DIY -Xmas soap garland-

supplies:

- little white pompoms

-wooden beads

-little soap stars

- kitchen/garden yarn

-needle

-little piece of ribbon

1 I first started with knotting this cute heart

2. Then it is already time for the fun part!!

Thread all your things on the yarn the way

you like it. Your needle will get soap on it,

so it's necessary to clean it from time to time.

If it's difficult to pull the needle through use

your tshirt or a tea towel for it.

3. You can make it as long as you like!

When your done just make a knot at the end.

4. Finish it with a loop, this way you can

hang your soap garland easily.

5. Then it will look like this!

Cut the end and finish your garland

with a cute bow.

And you are done!

XO. Vera

Cute blog(s)

2010-11-11T04:06:00.000-08:00

I'm not a big fan of reading magazines or newspapers on the internet, but for this e-magazine i will make an exception! I love reading the blog of Danielle. Above i have used pictures of the sweetness that i found over at her blog, to give you an impression :) If you don't know a blog, check it out here And if you like to check out the link to the e-magazine, go over to this topic of her blog!

It's always fun to discover new blogs full of inspiration, so i thought it would be a great idea to share! Leave a comment with one or two of your most favorite blogs, this way you can exchange with all the other followers and you may discover new blogs ♥

XO. Vera

DIY -make your own little goodie/giftbag-

2010-11-04T05:31:00.000-07:00

Well hello, i hope you are still enjoying our (crafty) blog :) For today i have another DIY for you. I made this post several months ago over at my own blog, but with the upcoming Holidays i thought it would be lovely to also share it here ❤

When i was sorting out my craftsupplies i saw all my pretty wrappingpapers and thought it was a pity that they were just lying around, instead of being used! There's such pretty (gift)paper all around! Just a few examples: Christmas wrapping paper, scrapbookpaper or even design your own!

Supplies

- (gift)paper

-scissors

-double sided tape

cut a piece of paper in the size that you like

fold your paper

fold the other (smaller half) over the big one

confirm you double sided tape

and fold the smaller side over it

fold the 'bottem' up

add double sided tape

fold & make sure it's solid

almost done..

i've cut a little 'wave' on top with the siccors

& added my own 'business' card

You can use little clothespins to close it,

use a stapler and add your 'business' card there.

You can also make two holes on top and pull

a little ribbon through etc.

There are endless ways..

explore yours xD

XO. Vera

Recently Stumbled...

2010-11-01T19:40:00.000-07:00

Do you stumble?

Sometimes I like to stumble while 'watching' football or when I have a little bit of time to kill. It can be a real time waster, because it sucks me into all of my favorite types of sites...Photography, crafting, recipes....but I can also save my favorite stuff to return to later when I have more time or I just need some inspiration. Also it keeps me in check on what I really want to look at without cluttering up my bookmarks, (I need to organize the bookmark tab on my computer, so much randomness!)

Anyway.

Here are some of my most recent finds. I think you will like them!

Pinhole Photography: 10 Paper Cameras for Photograph Purists
Here are some amazing pinhole cameras. Check out the site for more!

30 Day Speed Creating
This guy is amazing. I love all of his creations, especially these:

Thread wrapped grapes...and some were dipped in wax. Amazing.

A colored pencil bookshelf, I love it!

Lamps made with resin, a tube sock and a balloon. Gorgeous and lovely!

I cannot stop thinking about this awesome Funion creation. Delicious and elegant.

Made By Joel
Everything made by Joel is lovely. He makes the simplest toys for his kids and I just love them. He even has tons of free printables.

Thanks for reading! Hope you are having a good week. I did some paper mache for my classroom today, I hope to be finished in time for next week's post!

Flowerloom ❃

2010-10-28T06:52:00.000-07:00

A while back i bought a flowerloom, because i wanted to make vintage flowers. The instructions that i found in the box, weren't great :( So i thought i would surch on the internet, but couldn't really find a great instruction their either (except pictures from pretty flowers that we're made with the flowerloom). Finally a few days ago i found this great video over at Martha Stuarts blog and i could start making flowers. If you like to watch that video click HERE. This is the flowerloom that i have:

found here

ta da... and these are my first three!!

Once you get started it's really addictive ;)

The flowerloom is cheap and so so cute!

Just a perfect gift for yourself or for the

upcoming holidays ;)

Have fun!!

XO. Vera

A cupcake parade!

2010-10-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

A cupcake parade!!

Last winter I taught a class about color mixing using frosting...I made up red, yellow and blue frosting for each student and let them mix the colors on a plate and then spread the frosting on to wafer cookies. It was super fun!!

When I got home I had a bunch of left over frosting so I decided to make some cupcakes. And then I had a fun photo shoot!!

Wouldn't these be great for a party?

Here are a few that I added text using Picnik. Feel free to print them on cardstock for a quick and easy card!

Hope you have a great week!
Nellie

DIY -mini fall scrapbook-

2010-10-20T02:53:00.000-07:00

Fall is one of my favorite seasons and i've been wanting to make a mini scrapbook for a while now and i finally did and i thought it would be great to share it with you :)

DIY -mini fall scrapbook-

Everyone has his own favorite scrapbook supplies,

here are some of mine:

-crop-a-dile

-japanese tape

-feathers

-polaroids

-felt

-cute ribbons

I choose to make this mini scrapbook in a leaf shape. I wanted to be sure that my polaroid peeks would fit, so i placed one polaroid on the paper and drew a leaf around that.

Cut out the shape you like and use the first one as a model (this way all your pages will be all the same size). I used red, white and orange paper and drew the leafs with a marker. Cut all the leafs out of your paper.

Here are all the leafs and i made one from felt. This one is going to be used as front page!

Make one hole in the top of al your leafs with your crop-a-dile.

I used a cute fall decoration and stappled it with a brown piece of ribbon on to the front. I also added the month and date on the leaf! Now it's time to fill your leafs with: photos, fall decorations, favorite things to do during the fall, favorite fall recipes etc Here are a few of my pages...

When your done with your pages you can easily bind the leafs together with a cute ribbon and you are done!

Have fun making your own fall mini scrapbook!

XO. Vera

Stop Motion Love

2010-10-17T20:35:00.000-07:00

I just love stop motion animation movies.

Recently I decided to go on a quest to find an app for my computer that would allow me to make little videos for my blog.

I came across a free download called FrameByFrame. It is super fun!!

I want to go back and add some music to this little movie, but it is fun like this....

If you have a webcam and a computer, this is a really easy little movie to make! TRY IT!!

If you decide to make a movie, leave a link in the comments, I would love to see it!

DIY Sunday: Happy thoughts journal

2010-10-17T06:39:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday!

I loooove journaling lately – and this is my special way of journaling!
It’s a happy thoughts journal where you can store your happy memories….

What you'll need:

A journal

I chose a mini album with a “window” at the front side

and blank white pages inside!
But you choose your kind of journal.
You will also need some cute fabric and decoration material (like ribbons etc), things that make you happy (photos….)!

First, lay your journal on the fabric and trace the outlines.

I decided to only use fabric to cover the front side of my journal.

The tricky thing about my journal was the “window” – I traced the outlines of it too and then cut an X from one side to the other.

I used glue to fix the fabric to the inside of the front page.

See?

Now that the fabric is fixed to the inside of the “window”, use glue again to fix the overlaying fabric to the inside.

You need to fold the right side of the fabric so the spiral binding can still be used.

Start decorating the outside of your pretty journal <3

I used a cute leather-flower-decoration ribbon

and Alphabet stickers.

It says HAPPY

I thought, some decoration on the window would be pretty.

So I printed out a pretty picture and glued it to the window

Then, I glued the first page of the journal to it.

Isn’t that pretty?!

Now, onto the pages….Start making this journal your own and add some pretty decoation and pictures and colourful paper!

Have fun crafting this cue cute CUTE journal! Make it your own, get creative <3

Love yous,

Katja

DIY -happy pencil-

2010-10-14T02:50:00.000-07:00

It was a quiet week over at the birds blog and unfortunately i couldn't find the time to make a pretty DIY post, but today i have one for you! This one is very easy and just perfect for a little (holiday) gift or you can just make these pencils for fun with your kids or at a children party!

DIY -happy pencil-

Supplies:

- chenille thread (thick or small)

- feathers

- pencil(s)

- crafting glue

- (little) pompoms

1. first wrap the chenille thread around the

end of your pencil (make sure it's tight, so that

it doesn't fall off!)

2 Grap the other end and make a little round,

put the feathers in the hole and confirm it tight.

I wrapped it around the other chenille thread,

because in my opinion it better secure this way!

3 time to glue the eyes and nose on!

4. your pencil is ready to be used!

aren't i sweet?

Have fun crafting!

XO. Vera

DIY Sunday: Magical fairy lights.

2010-10-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday, loves!

I love fairy lights and since their name is already magical, I wanted to make them more magical...:

,

To bring some magic to your rooms, it takes

Fairy lights (I’d suggest using LED lights because the regular lights will get hot and that’s dangerous with the paper etc.)

Cupcake cups in different colours and sizes

Scalpel or Scissors

First, take a cupcake cup.

Use the scalpel to

cut an “X” into the base of the cupcake cup.

Then, plug the bulp of the fairy light through the “X”.

Cover all bulps with cupcake cups.

And bring some pretty magic to your room!

I know it’s a small project, but believe me: It’s SO much fun!!!!! <3

Hope, you enjoyed this cute little tutorial....

Love you all,

Katja

DIY -make your own fall wreath-

2010-10-01T12:19:00.000-07:00

My post was supposed to be ready yesterday, but i didn't have time to actually make a wreath. So i waited for today to make one :) Here we go...

You will need:

- a styrofoam wreath

- pins

- scissors (and if you like pinking shears for the fabric)

- fabric (i used an old fleece blanket)

Cut the fabric in slices and roll it on to your

wreath. Make sure that there are no blank

spots in between and that it covers your wreath.

Confirm the end and if you like the beginning with

a pin. Now you have the basis of your wreath.

Instead of using a ribbon i made a crochet one

Now it depends on what sort of wreath you

would like to make! Maybe you want to make

a pompom wreath or a polaroid one... I started

making polaroids that are fall inspired but i only

have a few so far... So i decided to make a wreath

with felt leafs. It's also possible to make one with paper

leafs! I used felt in the colors: orange,

green, red and brown. I usually start cutting all

kinds of shapes, but if your not comfy that way,

just use a marker and draw leafs before you cut

them out ;) Use good scissors!

a collection of my leafs

i first used these shaped leafs

and then i used the other shaped

leafs to fill the whole wreath

i secured them with a pin and

made sure that you can't see

the pins on top.

i found some cute fall brads in my stash,

that i decided to use

i used them to secure two leafs together.

I used all the other leafs to fill

the wreath just the way i like it!

I only filled the front, but if you

like you can also fill the sides too.

Have fun wreath making!

XO. Vera

2010-09-26T10:27:00.001-07:00

Happy Sunday , lovelies!
Today, I have a tutorial waiting for you…

You will need:

Felt

fabric scraps

thread and needle

scissors

keychain

First, download, print and cut out the owl pattern ;D

Then, cut out two pieces of the body.

Then, use fabric to cut out the wings.

Now, you can cut out a half circle of a different colour of felt.

See?

Sew it to the body.

Then, add the wings.

And two buttons for the eyes.

Already looks cute, right?

Now, cut a triangle to make the beak.

Now, cut a strap from the felt to use it as the hanger…. Also take the second body piece….

and start sewing both pieces together.

Don’t forget to add the hanger!!!!

If you have been sewing halfway round the body, stuff the owl.

Keep sewing around it and now… you are done! HAHA!

HOOT HOOT!

Loves,

Katja

DIY -crafting (with) leafs-

2010-09-23T05:28:00.001-07:00

Autumn is arriving and the leafs are already falling down, so for today i have two easy fall DIY's for you. You can make these with your kid(s) on a rainy day, but make sure to collect the leafs before, so that they are dry and not to curly. You can click on the image to make it bigger, so all you have to do is copy it and fix it at your own size.

DIY 1 -making a leaf owl-

You will need:

- to print out this owl

-leafs

- glue

-scissors

- yarn

cut out the owl
use glue on your owl
take your leaf and rub on it, so that little pieces will fall off
if you need more leafs to fill the paper do so and make sure they are sticking to your paper
use two pretty leafs that can be used as the wings of the owl
you can also decorate the back of the owl with little pieces of leafs
make a little opening in the head of the owl
pull yarn through and tigh it together

DIY 2 -fold your own leafs-

You will need:

-folding paper

-scissors

-glue

I have a few pretty folding books for kids,

that i've been using over the years at school.

This idea is from the book 'Het grote

vouwboek deel 2' (it's a Dutch book).

This one is very easy, i made those leafs

last year with 4/5/6 year old kids. The smaller

kids need some more assistence with folding and

cutting ;) Have fun!

step 1

You can use different sizes of folding paper and

any color that you prefer. If your kid likes purple

leafs, go with it ;)

fold it through half, open and half again and open

step 2

fold until the middle

step 3

fold the other side to the middle

and open your paper

step 4

turn your paper and repeat step 2 and 3

step 5

fold open and if you have done it right,

you will have 16 squares

step 6

fold the right downside to the middle, like this

step 7

use your sciccors to make two little cuts

stop at the verticale line

step 8

fold your paper like this

step 9

and fold the one above the same way

step 10

take your scissors again and cut 2 lines

again and stop at the horizontale line

step 11

fold them just like you did at step 8 and 9

step 12

turn your leaf ;)

to finish you can glue a little brown

piece on the bottem.

You can glue them on paper, hang them

on your window or make a garland

from several folded leafs!

Happy crafting!

XO. Vera

Washi tape rules ❤

2010-09-17T08:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry for my absence yesterday! My uncle suddenly died, so i kinda had other things on my mind! For the ones that also follow my blog 'seniwithlove' they have already seen this post. I didn't have time to make a new blogpost, so i decided to also share this cute one here!

When i was looking at my little collection of Japanese paper tape, i began to think.... What is fun making? I did a little google surch and found a few inspirational sites, hope you will enjoy them too :)

this is a great blog, look here

decorate your vases, look here

make a mini bunt, look here

decorate little vases or pencilholders,

look here

Washi tape rules :)

XO. Vera

For Your Inspiration File....

2010-09-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

Check out these adorable owl pillows!!

We have all seen mini-plushie type animals, but what about these over-sized owl body pillows? Totally cute right?

If you are looking for a fun kid-craft to do together, or to make for a gift, consider making something like this using remnants or fabric scraps for all the details. I am absolutely in love with these!!

They would be great in a dorm room too!!

I didn't make these, but they are certainly in my inspiration file. A family member created these as a birthday gift and I am so jealous! ;-)

Sunday DIY - the envelope mini abum

2010-09-12T05:04:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone!

Everyone knows autumn is just around the corner and I thought it would be the perfect time for a mini album to keep summer memories.

You will need

envelopes in different styles and sizes, a hole puncher, a ring to keep the "pages" together, photos, scissors, glue, stickers and decoration

First, take the envelopes and lay one on another.

Punch a hole in every enevelope.

Pull the ring through the holes. Basically, your mini album is finished. :)

Now, start decorating your pages. I'll show you mine for some inspiration.

You can also use the envelopes to store some secret letters or special paper things inside.

I hope you liked this DIY project as much as I do and can't wait to see some of your mini albums!

Have a crafty Sunday!!!!

xo.

Katja

DIY Sneak Peak

2010-09-07T10:33:00.000-07:00

I am working on a very cute, versatile and easy DIY. It is not completely finished yet, so you have to wait just 7 more nights.

While crafting, I love to listen to music. Lately, I am very into children's music. Great memories from when I was young, true classics and great new songs. Today I want to share one of my favorites:

What is your favorite song for kids? What did you listen to when you was young and what do you listen to with your kids/cousins/et cetera?

Fellow Birdies: I would love to sea and hear some of your favorite songs next week!

Five Bun Hairstyle Tutorial

2010-09-06T10:51:00.000-07:00

While browsing for Vintage hairstyles a couple of weeks ago, I got inspired to try some new techniques out on my hair. I came up with super easy 5 BUN style that was super easy and fun.

This hairstyle is great because it is perfect for a vintage dress, casual outfit or you could even wear it out for an elegant up-do. My favorite part about it, if the weather gets really humid or rainy and you've got a tiny bit of curl to your hair from the moisture in the air, you can save a limp, raggy-looking style with this quick fix-up.

My hair is a little too straight for this style...I recommend having your hair slightly curled so that the buns will wrap around easier. I like to use this hairstyle when my hair is really wavy or curly from rain/going to bed with damp hair/or just otherwise in need of taming!

You will need:
Curling iron, or slightly curled hair
bobby pins-lots!
rubberband/ponytail holder
hairspray
hand mirror and regular mirror
maybe a comb or brush

hi!

TIP: You might want to use two mirrors to get these last two bun in the right spot so they aren't to low or to far to the side. Getting those two buns in the right spot is the difference in making the whole thing slightly wonky or perfect!

I went outside to try to get a better picture of how the buns look in back...my hair is a super dark and it was late evening so I didn't get the best image...but you get the idea!

Hope you try this! Put your a link in the comments if you decide to try this style, I would love to see it!

DIY -folding boats-

2010-09-02T04:44:00.000-07:00

As promised a DIY about folding boats! I can show you the steps by taking pictures from every folding step, but instead i've found a little video on youtube :) Above there is a little Dutch, but the whole video is without words, so just join in! For the ones that are advanced at folding is also found the drawing step by step version. For those of you who are thinkin' that folding a boat is boring, you should check out the pictures that i found! You can make these with your kids, they really float, you can use them as decoration, as a birtday treat, as a name tag on the table or just put your french fries in it when you're having a bbq. The list with options is endless and so much fun!

you can use them as a birthday treat

or make fun ones with cute halloween

wrappingpaper source

source

make boat name tags

source

for your french fries!

A Dutch artist used them for a square.

he wanted to get attention for all the

fugitives that die on similar boats source

Hope you enjoyed it! Have fun folding :)

XO. Vera

Coloring inside the lines

2010-08-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

Right now at Kohl's you can buy these great graphic owl tees to color. They come with a set of 4 markers and are super fun for anyone!!

Normally I don't advertise a specific brand or product, but these are pretty cool. I spent a couple of hours this week coloring most of mine so that I could wear it to a birthday party for an-almost-teen-girl in my family. She is super easy to shop for since she loves owls. I actually bought myself the shirt first and then went back for another one for her.

I used the 4 colors that came with it and I also used the crayola fabric markers to give me some more color choices. If you end up trying this out, be sure to put a piece of cardboard between the two layers of the t-shirt when you are coloring it so the colors don't bleed through to the back. This would be super fun to get for a whole group of girls...a youth group or girl scout troop, they could all have matching shirts that would reflect their personality. They had additional styles besides the owl, it was just my favorite!

Happy birthday, kiddo!! Glad you like your shirt! I can't wait to see what you do with it!

DIY Sunday - It's all about ruffles.

2010-08-29T06:30:00.001-07:00

Hello friends :)

It's Sunday and I am very happy to present another DIY for you:

I have tons of flats and most of them are... boring seems to be the right word. So I thought I should decorate a pair of my flats in a romantic way. With ruffles! (and how doesn't LOVE ruffles?)

So here we go:

You will need a shoe

and some fabric as well as a pair of scissors and your sewing machine, of course!

First, cut a strap off the fabric. It should be a long strap because we want to turn it into ruffles and this will make it more short. (mine is 1 m long)

Using a loose stitch, sew along the strap.

- twice!!!!

That's what it will look like then. :)

You will now have 4 straps of your thread. Take the 2 front straps and... PULL! :)

Like this.

With a little bit patience, you will have ruffles in the end.

Now, just sew them to your shoe.

And your shoe will be one of a kind!

Hope you enjoyed this cute tutorial?!

Loves,

Katja

Rainy days

2010-08-27T06:08:00.000-07:00

It has been raining for 2 days here in the Netherlands. At some places there has fallen as much rain as usually in a month! Altough the rain can do a lot of damage, it's also very beautiful and inspiring! I made a little collection of pictures that i like and that makes me smile :) All pictures were found at weheartit! Next week i will do a DIY, where we are going to fold boats. So go and get that folding paper out of the cupboard or another place where you have stashed it :)

See ya next week!

XO. Vera

green crafting: recycled books

2010-08-24T12:41:00.000-07:00

Last two weeks was my summer vacation. I tried a no Internet policy and spend my time crafting and reading. I succeeded in the crafting and reading part. The best that I can say is that I have no more book reader's block! That is a big thing. For a year I just could not put myself towards reading, not even a children's book! Which is very strange for me, because I am a big fan of reading. Anyways, I managed to finish one book and start another during my vacation. And I am loving it once again.
(Did you somewhere expect a but, well, here it comes:) But I did not quite succeed in the no Interet thing. The first week went by with just two or three times checking my e-mail, but the second week I was my old Internet-addict-self again. Sorry. But there are too many great blogs out there! And so much inspiration!
With my freshly lifted book readers block, I stumbled upon this great idea for the recycling of books: the living garden of knowledge in Métis, Quebec. It is made with 40000 books, in the middle of a forest.

This inspired me to search for more great things made with recycled books. I mostly found prints and paintings on old book pages, like this one from owlstudio on Etsy:

And this faery tale one on an old dictonary page by DreameryStudio on Etsy:

Garlands are always a great thing to make with recycled paper, like this lovely garland made from an old book by bibliocide on Etsy. (You should really check out this shop if you like the recycled book/paper theme!)

But what amazed me most during my search on Etsy where the sculpures, especially this one by Kenjio:

And the best recycling idea is this last one: vintage playing blocks combined with pictures from cowboys out of an old book. This makes a great toy! These 77 cowboy blocks are hand-recycled by ownbackyard on Etsy.

Happy crafting!
Love, Inkie

Are you inspired? Please show us your creations at our Flickr group.

Do you want more green crafting? Check out my posts about recycled sweater pillows, recycled maps and recycled paper crafts.

Back to School

2010-08-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

I'm back to school this week and I made a fun little pencil cup for my classroom.

This would make a great teacher's gift.

I'm not going to make an official 'DIY' because I know I saw this idea somewhere....I've been looking all week for the official link to the site where I saw this idea but I can't remember where I saw it originally. (If you know the original source, please post a link in the comments, thanks in advance!)

The original idea I saw used ribbon cut to the a length to fit around a cleaned up tin can. I just used making tape...layed the colored pencils in a row on the table, on the tape, in rainbow order and then wrapped the whole chain of pencils on the tape around the cup and hot glued the pencils to the can, creating a fun little colorful storage holder for my desk supplies.

Another idea from PB Teen is a really cute accessory cup, its all white....it would be cool to use office/school supplies to make all sorts of accessories....and paint them white. You could make a similar one or order one of theirs if you don't feel like making one yourself.

Hope you have a great week if you are back at school like I am!! I would love to see your classroom if you are a teacher, leave a link in the comments.

Sunday DIY - Headband.

2010-08-22T10:58:00.003-07:00

Happy Sunday everyone!

It's DIY-day, so here's a new craft project for you:

For this cute hair accessory, you will need:

felt in 3 different colours, a hairband, scissors, sewing needle, thread, a button.

First, cut 3 circles in different sizes from every colour of felt you chose.

Put them on each other

and with the button in the middle, sew together.

Now, carve the layers of felt.

Like this!

And then, sew the felt piece to your hairband.

Guess what?! You're done! :D

Hope you are having a great crafty Sunday and maybe this tutorial inspired you to create some cute hair accessory?!

Loves,

Katja

PS: Do you have any wishes for DIYs in the future?! Let me/us know!!!!

DIY -restyle your empty bottles or jars-

2010-08-19T08:05:00.001-07:00

Wowie i just saw that we've have 100 followers!! Maybe time for a little blog party soon?!

I have a lot of empty bottles from juices or jars that were filled with food. Usually we through them away in special glass containers, but before i through them away i always look if they can be used as a little vase. I keep the pretty shaped ones and although i like them just the way they are, it's also nice to give them some color from time to time! And this is how we are going to do this today...

DIY -restyle your empty bottles or jars-

Step 1 supplies

You will need:

-an empty bottle or jar

- some pretty papers

-buttons (medium or big)

- scrapbook flowers in different colors

-raffia, yarn, lace

-double sided tape

-siccors

Step 2

I used pretty Japanese paper that i usually

use for origami. See if your paper fits the

bottle. If not cut the piece off that you don't need.

Step 3

Use your doublesided tape and secure it

on the back of the paper, like this. Take

step 4

You can choose to do your bottle

half with paper or all round.

If you want to make it all round,

you can do that at once if your paper

is big enough or in 2 parts (like i did).

Make sure that they are at the same

height, by starting were you've

ended.

Step 5

Make a little flower just for decoration.

I used a piece of lace that i normally use for

making necklaces :) Pull it through the flower

and then the button. Confirm it on the bottle

were you like and make a knot.

Step 6

You're done!

If you want to use it as a vase,

be careful when you put water in it!!

It's still paper and it would be a pitty

if it got wet ;)

Did i inspire you enough to make one of your own?

XO. Vera

Nerd Alert: Video Game Themed Party

2010-08-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!! I would love to share some photos with you from a recent surprise birthday party.

The theme was: Video games....so we HAD to decorate the entire house with Super Mario images that we made, arts and crafts style.

I showed up the night before the party with a few images printed off the internet, some construction paper, sharpies and some tape and glue and everyone pitched in to make the night a success.

A work in progress!

Making some coins.....clink, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink!

A few boo diddlies. ;-)

Goombas.

Vines for the green walls in the bedroom.

Mario!

The night of the party, Brannon was truly surprised and everyone had fun with simple costumes. It was SUPER hot so simple was good. Here are a few of my friends that came dressed as 'Pong,' an old Atari game. Black t-shirts and white duct tape!

My favorite costume, Shaina with a packman suit!

I'm a SIM, with Shaina!!

Solid snake.....???? I think.....

And the birthday boy as Billy Bullet!

To make my SIMS 'costume', I glued two craft cones together (styrofoam would probably work better, it would be lighter) and painted it bright green. Then I stuck a coat hanger up in the cones and wrapped it around a plastic headband. I wrapped the wire in black electrical tape and then covered it in black ribbon so that it would look a little better. Also, I attached the ribbon with some fabric glue. Super easy and I could take it on and off pretty easily.

I also made some yummy Atari Joystick Controller brownies instead of a cake. You can see pictures and read more about them on my blog, click here !

Bird inspiration post ❤

2010-08-13T03:34:00.000-07:00

Oh my... i would love to spend time here ❤

Such pretty colors!

For today i have a post full with bird inspiration.

I've been making birds with bhedawool (i will be

posting peeks on my own blog later today!) and

thought it would be fun to make a post filled with

bird ideas. I made a selection of the photos that i

found on weheartit. I wanted to show you small

and big crafty ideas with birds. I hope you like it!

Do you have an old book?

Paint a branch with flowers and draw

a silhouet of a bird and cut it out ❤

i love these plates from Nina ❤

it's fun to make origami birds ❤

just a little birdie polaroid moodboard ❤

wallpaper filled with birds, branches and flowers ❤

Who needs Easter or Xmas?

Just fill your branches with

birds anytime you want ❤

I found these pretty cups on the

Ariadne site. The birds have

been painted on the cups and

teapot. Wanne make them yourself?

Look here I made a DIY a while ago

about this, look here :)

Have fun creating your

own birdie things ❤

Love,

Vera

Summer Tomatoes

2010-08-09T18:05:00.000-07:00

I had better write this down....or I will NEVER remember it!

Does that ever happen to you with recipes?

I will make something, absolutely love it, and then never make it again because I completely forget that it exists.

I go to the store, trying to plan meals or figure out what 'sounds good' for dinner later that week and I draw a complete blank. I wander the grocery isles, lost in a sea of possibilities.

Generally, I refer to Allrecipes.com whenever I am trying to decide what to cook. I will just enter an ingredient and it gives me tons of options. Also, I receive their daily email and whenever something looks good, I always save it to my recipe box.

This summer, I have been eating homegrown tomatoes like crazy! They are larapin delicious. (Larapin is a real word. Ahem. According to the Urban ~~hicksville~~ dictionary it refers to "a food that tastes exceptionally good")

When I was a kid, I hated tomatoes. Probably because my mom hated them. Cheeseburger, no onions, no tomatoes. She ordered it that way...so I ordered it that way....I still hate those lame fake tomatoes on sandwiches and burgers....but I have a true taste for homegrown, farmer's market, juicy red tomatoes. mmm-mmm-mmmmmm.

I decided to try a new recipe tonight. I looked on Allrecipes.com for some inspiration. If something looks yummy, I look at the ingredients to make sure that I have every thing and then I read the comments. Inevitably, someone says, "Oh, I tried this, it was delicious, I made a few changes..." and they go on to explain that they changed pretty much everything. Haha. I decided to use what I saw, make the changes and turn it into a NEW recipe. ;-)

Please tell me if you try this too!! I would love to know how it turns out for you! I ate the tomatoes tonight with white rice and a spicy grilled KC strip steak. I will be making these again!

Mozzarella Tomatoes
2 Large tomatoes sliced 1/2" to 1/4" thickness
1 1/2 (approx) tablespoon mayo
1 tablespoon dijon mustard (or any fancy mustard)
1/2 tablespoon worchestershire sauce
1 teaspoon chopped garlic (or a couple of cloves)
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 1/2 tablespoons Parmigiano cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Mix together the mayo, mustard, worchestershire, garlic and oregano in a mixing bowl. Place your tomatoes in a glass casserole dish, greased. Spoon the mixture onto the tomatoes, it doesn't take much for each one. Top with mozzarella cheese.

Place in a hot oven, I used the broiler but you could also bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. I kept them under the boiler for about 5 min. and then turned the pan and baked for an additional 2-3 minutes. Just eye-balling it so that the cheese got bubbly and brown on top. I also sprinkled the top with parsley flakes, for good looks.

DIY Sunday - felt bow tutorial

2010-08-08T11:09:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Todays' DIY is one of my favorite quick crafts ever: A felt bow hairclip.

You will need:

felt, a hairclip, thread and needle, a scissors

:)

First, cut a strap from your felt.

Now, fold the felt in 3 steps.

Then, cut a smaller strap from the felt.

And now, take thread and needle, and add some loose stitches to the bigger part of the felt.

Pull the thread to create the typical bow shape!

And now, add the smaller strap of felt.

Now you already have a bow xD

Sew your hairclip to the back.

And now your hairclip is done!!!!! Hooray for quick crafts, right? Happy Sunday, loves.

xo.

Katja

DiY -painted stones-

2010-08-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

An easy DIY for yourself, the kids, a birthday party or as a rainy day activity with the family :) You can buy stones in a store or at a garden centre, but usually they are more expensive then when you find them in nature. Go out for a walk and bring home a bunch of stones.. All you need is acrylic paint, paintbrush, water and your own imagination! I've painted mine turquoise and purple. Since they are still in their drying state, i have some time to figure out what i want to paint on them. Since i will be selling some on a market in a while, i really want to paint something easy and catchy!

i totally love these!

found here

based on crochet inspiration

found here

There are even workshops for a few hours

that you can follow. But i like to experience

at home :) Since we had a few rainy days,

it felt like a perfect thing to do!

Have fun painting them & if you

did let me know :)

Love,

Vera

Recipe: Chicken Malakka

2010-08-03T10:44:00.000-07:00

Today I want to share my favorite recipe with you: Chicken Malakka (or Quorn Malakka, the veggie version). I have been eating this for 3 days in a row now, and still would like some more.

What you need to make Chicken of Quorn Malakka:
chicken or quorn
onion
mushrooms
red pepper powder
soy sauce
stroganoff sauce
(indonesian) peanut sauce
pineapple
bean sprouts
spaghetti

This is how you make it:
Start with boiling spaghetti, cause this takes up most of the time.
Bake the chicken till it turn a little brown (When you use quorn, you'll add the quorn later in the process).
Add the diced onion, bake it till it's glazy.
Add the mushrooms (and quorn for the veggie version) and bake them too. (I like my mushrooms quite big and bake them very short).
Add red pepper powder together with the mushrooms. The more the better! (Well, not all of it, about one or two teaspoons will do).
At the end of the baking, add a little soy sauce.
In the meanwhile, you can prepare your sauce. For the sauce I use a mix of stroganoff sauce and peanut sauce. Don't bother making them from scratch, the ones where you just have to add water taste just as good!
Put the sauce in the pan with all the goodies you baked. Let it get to boil.
When the sauce boiles you can add pineapple parts and bean sprouts. (I usually use canned pineapple, because it is so much cheaper! Best part is that you can add the juice too, which makes the Chicken Malakka taste even better!).
Let the sauce boil for a couple of minutes.
Put some spaghetti on a plate, pour the sauce over it and digg in!

Chicken Malakka tastes even better when you serve a simple salad with it, made with lettuce, tomatoes, eggs, onions and a simple mayonaise-based dressing.

bon appetit!

The wonderfull prints that I used to illustrate this article are made by the llustrator Michael Toland and available as prints on Etsy.

Wide Angle in STL

2010-08-02T08:19:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday!!

Over the weekend, I had a chance to experiment with a new toy. The 52mm Wide-Angle Lens for Nikon cameras. I thought you might like to see the results in case you have ever considered investing in a wide-angle lens.

I would love to buy a REAL wide-angle lens, but for now, this little cheapo attachment is fun to play around with.

To use this attachment, I simply screwed the little lens on the end of my 18-55mm lens and started shooting. It is light weight, easy to haul around and easy to attach to the camera. Light-weight is important when walking around like a tourist, taking pictures. ;-)

The price is great, very affordable for those of us who want to get a feel for wide-angle before taking the plunge to purchase a REALLY wide digital lens.

I actually like the vignette that is created around the image. Some people on the Amazon reviews did not like that or the fact that it gets a little blurry around the edges, but I actually like it.

All of the photos were taken in St. Louis. The Moonlight, on Del Mar...I am told is where Lady Gaga stayed when she played in St. Louis recently. She reserved the entire top floor and the rooftop bar. Wow! By the way, I will be seeing Lady Gaga in Kansas City, Missouri tomorrow! I am super excited!!

Coloring Your Space

2010-07-31T14:37:00.000-07:00

The colors on your walls impact the way your rooms feel.

Cool greens and blues seem to retract, making a space feel more open.

(source)

Warm yellows and oranges contract, making a space feel cozy.

(source)

And of course vibrant colors make a room come alive.

(source)

What color are your walls?

DIY -restyle your tin cans-

2010-07-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

Hi :) I just love restyling things that are old or that you just don't like anymore :) I haven't had the time to make a DIY for you, so instead i've found four DIY's that you make. Beneath every picture i've left a link! You can use your restyled new tin can for pencils, flowers or what ever you like :) Have fun!!

found here

Love,

Vera

green crafting: recycled sweater pillows

2010-07-27T11:02:00.001-07:00

Today's post is some inspiration I used to come into the mood for te online sewing class Home Ec. This summer, I am finally going to learn to sew! That is: I am finally learning how to use my sewing machine for more than the basic straight lines and shortening of my trousers. One of the things I want to learn is sewing my own pillow cases (with zipper). I have some old clothes cut out in squares already and I am looking for some great old sweaters to use to. I was not really sure about the sweaters, till I did a little search on the internet. Recycled sweater pillows can be so beautiful! I really need a trip to the thrift store now.
Here are some of the beauties I found online (including some links to DIY's):

Sweater pillow DIY on Country Living

Sweater Cushion DIY by Refashion on Refashinoso

Flower Garden Accent Pillow by FeltSewGood on Etsy

Patchwork pet bed on Apartment therapy

Bright Tiles Pillow by lolagodiva on Etsy

Fish scale pillow by plytextiles on Etsy

Happy crafting!
Love, Inkie

Are you inspired? Please show us your creations at our Flickr group.

Do you want more green crafting? Check out my posts about recycled maps and recycled paper crafts.

Summer Hair: Bohemian Braid UPDO

2010-07-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

Hello friends! Happy Monday!

I found the most amazing hair tutorial for a bohemian summer updo. Wowzers, I had to share!

Over on the Mucho Mucho Bueno Bueno blog, I have found a lot of inspiration this week! Tons of fitness, style and music inspiration in every post! LOVE IT!! Definitely one of my new favorite blogs.

One of my most favorite recent posts was the Summer Hair: Bohemian Braid UPDO. Go check it out for yourself.

I tried the updo myself....a little challenging for my long, thick, layered hair, but it is a version of the same style.

I can't wait to accessorize with a feather, headband or clip-on flower....So many ways to change up the same look!

Have you found inspiration for your hair online lately? I would love to see more summer styles! Post a link to your favorite posts, or if you decide to try this style, leave a comment with a link, I would love to check it out!

DIY DSunday - milkfree muffins

2010-07-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

Hi there!

Todays DIY is more of a bake-it-yourself! I LOVE baking, and here's a cute treat for you:

Those muffins are made without milk (because I have a lactosemalabsorbiton and can't stand milk ^^)!

Here's what you need:

1 cup sugar

1.5 cups flour

0.5 cup oil

2 eggs

0.5 cup mineral water

0.5 package baking powder

0.5 package instant pudding mix

Mix all ingredients together, then fill the dough in small baking cups. I used chocolate candy cups xD Haha, so cute! And now bake for aproximately 10 minutes at 180 °C.

Decorate them the way you like and... yummy yummy!

Happy baking!!!!

xo.

Katja

ORANGE

2010-07-24T17:38:00.000-07:00

A little orange inspiration for you :-)

(images via weheartit)

outdoor inspiration also inside

2010-07-22T02:22:00.000-07:00

Hi! I just came from my vacation, that i spend not far away. We stayed in the Netherlands and enjoyed our vacation at Terschelling (a Dutch island). If you like to see peeks you can click here to go over to my blog :) Before i start with today's blog we want to thank Nikolina for rewarding us with the versatile blogger award ❤ I've missed your comment because i was on vacation, but i will make a post about it next week! Do you want us to make a list of inspirational blogs all together or separate? Let me know :)

After spending so much wonderful time outside the last few weeks, outside and inside merge. When it's really hot we have our patio doors open in the early morning to let the fresh air in. I always enjoy eating my breakfast outside at that time, by sitting at our bench in the garden. I't quiet so early in the morning, so you can hear the birds singing....

I love outdoor furniture, picknick baskets, plants, pots and decorations! During the fall and winter i always decorate my garden. This way i can enjoy looking outside when i spend my time sitting at the couch inside with a hot cup of tea. I know it's still the middle of summer, so i'm enjoying every moment that i can spend outside!

all images are from the Dutch magazine

'VT wonen'

I will end this post with this sweet garden picture

that i found at the lovely blog of miss Bee

An easy way to give your old gardentable a new look!

Hope you enjoyed this post xD

Love,

Vera

yarn stash

2010-07-20T13:04:00.000-07:00

I just spend over an hour sorting my yarn stash. Well actually, just a quarter of my stash.
Sometimes I remember the days my stash was still small, like this beautiful stash from Making Chicken Salad:

But nowadays, it looks more like this:

(This is actually a little part of my friend Marije's stash :-) )

I use a part of my cd cabinet, a couple of purple boxes, a wicker basket and my couch for storing my yarn. I am looking foreward to the day that I will have a huge cabinet with lots of compartments to store and display my yarn. In the meantine the couch works just fine and I like to daydream looking at great yarn collections of other people online, like these:

What does your stash look like? What do you use to store it?

(All pictures link to the original source)

Let's Have a Party!

2010-07-19T12:58:00.000-07:00

Saturday night I threw a party!!! Wear your best cheap disguise!
I love hosting themed parties. Some of my favorites: Ugly Sweater, 80s, New Years Eve, Pajama Party, and Christmasquerade.

Any celebration can be turned into a theme party with a few cheap disguises! I encouraged my guests to wear something cheap and fun, like a mustache. I didn't want this to be a typical 'mustache party' but some of the elements are very similar and I got lots of ideas from mustache parties that I found online.

In my search I found the Wedding Chicks and I decided to make some of their amazing Sculpty mustaches. Such a fun idea! I made a bunch and put them in a vase. They were easy to access for pictures and made a great centerpiece.

To find out how to make your own, read here. These are so easy, great for a birthday party for kids or adults, a shower or even a wedding reception! So fun!

I also printed off tons of things that I hung around the house. Here is one amazing printable that would be great for kids! The image below is from Digital Design House, an April Fools Printable for a Cheap Disguise Kit. Absolutely fantastic!

Seven MORE great resources for you:

1. Find a great printable here from The City Cradle.

2. You can buy loads of disguise stuff on Amazon.com....I found some cool stuff here.

3. For an awesome DIY for mustache lollipops, click here.

4. I really wanted to make the cake that I saw on Paisley Jade's blog...a mustache cake...it was awesome! Maybe another time, let me know if you try it though!

5. One of the cutest boy birthday parties ever. Some great ideas for using ties and mustaches!!

6. Order your own Instant Villain Disguise Kit from Archie McFee (And sign up for a free catalog while you are at it!)

7. My favorite blog post, the one that gave me the most ideas for my own decor: Jackie Oh Fo, A Stache Bash. Awesome!! So many good ideas!

Okay so from all of those sources, here is what I came up with. I found some awesome foam heads at a flea market and I put them up on my mantle. Then, I displayed all of my wigs (from other parties) on the heads. Each head had its own unique mustache, cut from felt.

Below the heads, on the edge of the mantle, I used my Poladroid Polaroid Maker and images found on a google search of 'famous mustaches' to make images of some of my favorites. I printed them on white cardstock and stuck them up with glue dots.

A mustache bandit came by and stuck felt mustaches on paintings, photos and statues in my house. Here is a cute owl with a mustache and a picture of my niece!

All in all, it was a great night. Below, you can see some of my favorite Instax pictures from the evening. A few real mustaches, and lots of fake ones! Enjoy!!

How's this for a cheap disguise?? Haha!

Best wishes, happy parties and hope you are having a great MONDAY! Thanks for reading.

Also, if you know of any other great links, add them in the comments...let's get them all in one place!

Sunday DIY - apron

2010-07-18T02:11:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!!! :D

Sorry for not posting a DIY last Sunday... But as an excuse, todays DIY is fabulous! Promised...
You all might know how much I love retro things. And the best retro thingie is: an apron! So here's mine:

Cute?! Hell yeah! :D

And so so so SO simple. You only need:

Fabric, a pair of scissors and your sewing machine.

To find out the perfect size, wrap the fabric around your belly... I took the size of one bone to the other as the perfect size for it.

Cut a piece of your measured size.

Fold to half.

Cut round edges.

Now you have a apron shaped piece of fabric.

And cut some stripes from your fabric. They will become your ruffles later.

Now, fold the fabric edges.

And now, add the ruffles. Therefore, simply fold the fabric spaced and use pins to fix it.

That's what it will look like before sewing. :)

Now, you will need 2 fabric straps. They will be your apron belt. Cut them so they can be wrapped around your body and make sure you will be able to tie a knot.

Fold them to half, the inner side up.

Sew them together.

Finish it beveled. Leave the other side open.

Turn it inside out.

And now, add it to the top of your apron.

Fold the fabric over the belt piece.

And now sew along the apron lines.

Use a simple stitch to sew along the lines and a zig zag stitch to sew along the top side and then, along the lower top side where the belt pieces are.

See?! :D

And now, you have a very cute apron to style you pretty when you work at home or clean the house or bake or cook or just for fun! :D

I hope this tutorial was easy to understand and to follow and even though my english these days isn't the best, - I hope you will be able to make your own apron soon!

Thanks everyone for your support and love.

XO!
Katja

Simultaneous Contrast

2010-07-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

Just as jumping in a cold pool from a hot tub intensifies the cold, the contrast between two adjacent colors is accentuated. You can see this effect even in different shades of gray:

The two inner rectangles are actually the same color! The surrounding shades of gray give them the appearance of being different. This is called simultaneous contrast.

The same can happen with any set of adjacent colors. Red, for example, looks much brighter on black than on white; it appears vibrant on a blue background, but dulls as more yellow and magenta are added to the background (eg, brown). See the example below for yellow:

(source)

The same shade of yellow looks brighter or duller depending on the background color. This optical phenomenon can be lessened or removed entirely by adding a white or black outline between the opposing colors, because the effect is focused on a small area between the colors.

I think this is something many of us notice instinctively, but it helps to keep it in mind when designing with color :-) I hope you enjoyed this little installment of color theory by AJ! Now go color your world ;)

green crafting: recycled maps

2010-07-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

While cleaning my house, I found a big box filled with maps. A lot of these maps I am never going to use again, they are old or from places I probably won't visit again. But I think they will be a great addition to my craft supplies. The first thing that came to my mind was using it as stationary (as an addition to my vintage map stationary that I bought a couple of years ago). But a little search on Etsy and other places on the web gave me a lot more ideas.

What do you tink of these?

Map heart garland by lovefromchloe on Etsy

Vintage map magnet by pommesfrites on Etsy

Recycled NYC subway map by ecoist

Gift tags by Milomade

Maps & Butterflies by Image Surgery

I also found some cute DIY's:
- Map coasters
- Vintage map bangle
- Butterfly art
- Vintage map treat bag
- Map lamp

Happy crafting!
Love, Inkie

Are you inspired? Please show us your creations at our Flickr group.

Do you want more green crafting? Check out my post about recycled paper crafts.

Hello Death Valley...

2010-07-12T18:33:00.000-07:00

Last week, I made a journey to Arizona to visit my brother. After a few days in Lake Havasu, we made a little road trip to Carlsbad California for a couple of nights. Then we drove up to Las Vegas so that I could fly home. On our way to LV, we passed through Death Valley and made a quick pit stop. While fueling up, I saw this old abandoned hotel and I knew it would be perfect for the black and white film I had just loaded into my Holga. I don't have those pictures back yet, but I wanted to share these with you. I snapped them with my Nikon D5000.

Oh, did I mention that it was REALLY hot?? I had a candy bar in the car and I left the door open for a couple of minutes while I was getting my camera out of my suitcase....the Snickers totally melted into a pool of peanuts and nougat. It was still a yummy road trip snack, but wow!

Well, I am going to be home this week so I hope to get some craftiness going to share with you next week!

Alice in Wonderland ♠

2010-07-08T05:25:00.001-07:00

It all started with this cute 'Alice in Wonderland'

kit from Elsie. Since i'm cleaning and reorganising

my craftspace i also find things i forgot about.

But i must say that's not the case with this wonderful kit.

I'm still waiting for a good purpose!

I also watched the movie for the second time,

so i'm in a Alice in Wonderland mood xD

all images found atweheartit

I'm going to enjoy my summerholiday,

so i won't be here next week.

For those of you who are also enjoying

the summerholiday, have fun!

Love,

Vera

Inspiration from toast.

2010-07-05T12:02:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen the TOAST Catalog? It is a company in the UK and you can order a free copy of their catalog. As a teacher, I know I won't make enough money to order their stuff but I am so glad that I got the summer edition, the pictures are absolutely gorgeous! I ripped several pages out for my inspiration wall. If you need any inspiration, you should order a copy for yourself!

Felt and Fabric Craft Swap Goodness

2010-07-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

Recently I signed up for a craft swap. A craft swap--yipppppeeeeee!!! The official name is the "Great Camp-Out Craft Swap" and it is sponsored by a Amanda Lester at apple blue vintage. With a camping theme in mind I started making a list of 'camp' related things I like:
campers
animals
s'mores
campfire
flashlights
tents
trees
nuts
signs
sunglasses

After looking on Etsy for camping related crafts, I was totally stumped. And then I saw someone's blog post about how they made some cool sun glass cases. I would love to share the link with you. I have spent the last hour looking at every blog in my blog roll and I cannot remember who gave the the idea or even what the original sun glass cases looked like. I did not save the original image. I barely looked at it. I just remembered that it looked easy and I started dreaming up my own way of creating the little cases using felt so that I wouldn't have to iron under a bunch of seams.

So I made up my own plan of attack.

I wish I would've made this into a DIY. But I did not. haha.

1. First I made a rough measurement of my fabric and cut out a rectangle that would fold in half and fit over my sunglasses. Since I was creating a whole bunch, I cut out all the fabric I needed at the same time.
2. I put it on a piece of felt and cut the felt slightly larger on the top end. I cut out all the felt at the same time.
3. I stitched up the edges, wrong sides together, leaving the top open. I did all the sewing for each one at the same time.
4. I turned the 'pocket' inside out. I used an iron to press it flat and in half. I also pressed the top flap down to cover the top edge of the fabric. I did all the ironing at the same time.
5. Finally, I stitched around two sides to close it up and added embellishments. It was so nice to clip off all the loose strings and glue on the flowers. This was so fun! I wish I would've used pinking sheers on this project, but I can never find my pair when I want them!

I had to make 16 for the swap, but I think I made 20 so that I could keep a few for all my sunglasses!

Now I know you are wondering about the embellishments that I used. For the one below, I just covered a couple of buttons and stitched those on. I love covered buttons!

Below you can see another version that I made. I had the soft vintage-ish fabric above and I also had this great corduroy fabric so I decided to use both.

For the felt flowers....let's see....Oh yes, a couple of months a go LollyChops (the very lovely and talented LollyChops!) had an awesome video tutorial on felt flowers. I made a bunch but I never used them for anything. They were just trapped inside a plastic container waiting to be freed. I used fabric glue to attach them to the fabric cases and made some little felt leaves too! Total cuteness!

I hope you enjoyed this post. Stay tuned for another post later today. I didn't have time to post last Monday so I decided to do two this week!

Oh and to see what another craft swapper made, check out Run With Scissors's Janel created! Compass bows---sweet!

DIY Sunday - pinwheel.

2010-07-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

Hello there!

It's Sunday, so it's time for another DIY made by me for you! This week, it's all about PINWHEELS!!!!! :)

Making this is pretty easy so it's perfect for a cute step-by-step DIY.

You will need:

A sheet of colourful (scrapbooking-)paper, wire, a button, tape, wooden sticks (or a thick wooden stick) and a pair of scissors. The paper is supposed to be a square!

First, cut in every corner of the paper.

Do it like you see up here.

Then, fold the edges to the middle and hold tight.

Take a button and place it to the middle. Use a needle to poke through the layers of paper and hold it.

Poke through 2 of the button holes and then

take a piece of wire and poke it through the holes.

It should look like this.

Twirl it at the back.

Don't cut off the leftover. You will need it in a few seconds :)

Now, take you wooden stick(s) and

wrap some decorative tape around it!

Wrap the leftover wire from the back of the pinwheel around the wooden stick(s).

AND YOU ARE DONE!

Happy crafting!

xo.

Katja

Fireworks!

2010-07-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of 4th of July weekend (in America, we celebrate our independence with fireworks :)), here's some fun fireworks color trivia!

Gold fireworks are made using charcoal + iron + lampblack

For red, strontium or lithium is used

Orange is produced with calcium salts

For yellow you need sodium

Green is made with barium

Copper is used to make blue tones

Purple-colored fireworks are made from copper + potassium or strontium

Silver results from titanium

And white fireworks have aluminum, magnesium, or titanium

Well, that was fun :D

Enjoy your weekend!!

(all images via weheartit)

Nathalie Lete

2010-07-01T06:25:00.000-07:00

Hi! For today another post about an artist. This post is about the French artist Nathalie Lete. Nathlies mixes different techniques and mediums, illustration, textile, painting & ceremics. She is inspired by her travels, flowers, animals and vintage stuff. I find her work colorful, old school like and sometimes a little bit strange ha ha The nice thing about her work is that it's various. She makes knitted and stuffed toys, glass pictures, patterned dishes, postcards, wool rugs, jewels, illustrates books and much more. If you like you can take a look at her website, just click here.

Nathalie Lete

Two peeks of her studio.

I just love to have a look

in the studio of an artist xD

adorable flipflops

a selection of her cards

aww such a pretty dress!

Love,

Vera

party time

2010-06-30T13:08:00.000-07:00

I am a day late, sorry for that! Weather is crazy hot here and buzy preparing my 30th birthday party :) I'll be 29 for just one more night.

Acording to the weather forecasts it will be 30-something degrees on the party day, saturday. This has had a big influence on my shopping list: I need a lot of icecubes, cold drinks, icecream and salads for dinner and lunch. I plan on making special icecubes, with a little leaf of mint or a little piece of fruit in it. I hope to do all the cake baking tomorrow. This is the first time I plan to make all cupcakes and mini apple cakes. Usually I make a couple of cupcakes, but mostly big apple cakes.

I am not sure about the decorations yet. I'll definately do something with flowers and garlands. But maybe some balloons too. I would like to go with an all green and natural theme, but I don't know if I'll have enough time and energy for that.
A great inspiration for the decorations is this video:

But, as I am planning, having great ideas and wanting a lot, it is also hot, very hot. This makes me want to go to the beach all day, swimming, canoeing, reading in the shade, and be lazy all day long.

Style.

2010-06-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday everyone!

Since it has been a very busy weekend for me, I am not sharing a DIY I made today. BUT the next tutorial will be a cute one <3 In the meantime... I want to tell you something about fashion. I wouldn't consider myself as a fashion victim or someone who has an incredible style when it comes to fashion. But over the years I have developed some kind of "my" style. You know, a bit retro, a bit classy, a bit crazy. I LOVE the "old" fashion style as well as some funky cute stuff! :)

Well, I borrowed these pictures from the WARDROBE REMIX flickr group. You should check it, there are so many great and inspiring outfits around!

Well, and now a bit of me:

What's your style???

xo.
Katja

Color Strength

2010-06-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) was a writer and a scientist, who expanded the ideas of color theory from Newton's purely physical theories to a one including our perception. He argued that color doesn't merely depend on the object and light, but also on our brains and our experiences.

In Designer's Color Manuel (by Tom Fraser and Adam Banks), I found Goethe's color ratio diagram, which I thought was really neat! It shows the visual strengths of the primary and secondary colors. Yellow is the strongest and violet is the weakest. This means that to balance the colors, you would need three times the amount of violet as yellow! The colors are rank as follows:

9 - Yellow (strongest)

8 - Orange

6 - Red

6 - Green

4 - Blue

3 - Violet (weakest)

Or compared in a graph:

9 - Yellow

9 - Yellow 8 - Orange

9 - Yellow 8 - Orange 6 - Red 6 - Green

9 - Yellow 8 - Orange 6 - Red 6 - Green 4 - Blue

9 - Yellow 8 - Orange 6 - Red 6 - Green 4 - Blue 3 - Violet

Red and green are equal in visual strength, but you would need twice as much violet to compare. And you would need twice as much blue to balance any amount of orange. It's a simple system that you can use to balance all types of arts, crafts, even home decorating and your wardrobe :)

DIY for kids -make your own dreamcatcher-

2010-06-24T00:14:00.000-07:00

For today my first DIY for kids on the birdsblog. I don't know if our readers have kids, but even if you don't it's a fun project to do with kids from friends, with cousins, nephews or in your art class :) I would recommend to do this together, just make sure that when your child is making one you can keep an eye on what they are doing!

Supplies:

-chenille wire

-siccors (for cutting the chenille wires)

-beads

-feathers

Pick one chenille wire and make a round shape, knot

it together. I used a thicker one for the outside &

smaller ones on the inside.

Pick a chenille wire in the color that you like

and wrap it around one side and then on the

other. The rest of the wire that you won't

be needing can be cut.

After the purple one i used a green orange and

blue chenille wire from one side to the other.

After that i used yellow to make a smaller

round in the middle.

add some small wires from the outside

round to the middle round and pick

any color that you like.

Now it's time to make a round so that you

can hang your dreamcatcher ;)

Get some chenille wire and make a little round shape.

Then wrap it around the top of your dreamcatcher,

make sure it's tight!

I added one bead and pulled the chenille wire through.

I wrapped the wire around in the middle a few times.

You can only use bigger beads, because they have

bigger holes ;) If you like to add more beads, you

can do that every time that you are adding wire.

Okay final step!

Get your feathers xD

Confirm your chenille wire on the bottem

and add as many feathers that you like.

I used 3 chenille wires (i made

one with two colors) and tree feathers.

ta da!! you are ready!!

If your child likes to craft and he or she's a little older (9 years) they can try the advanced one! This one is also for grown ups ;) I made a post on my own blog a few days ago, here's the link

Enjoy your dreamcatcher(s)!!

Leave me a link if you have made one

or add it to our flickr group

Loves,

Vera

DIY Make your own butterfly net

2010-06-22T12:44:00.000-07:00

Summer is here! This is the time of year I love to be outside all day long. Cycling, walking, or just sitting down and watching all the life around me. Sometimes I take my flora (a book about wild plants) with me and try to figure out all the names of the wild plants I find. And other times I take my butterfly net with me to catch some insects and try to figure out their names. I mainly catch dragonflies (Odonata), which are pretty easy to bring to name.
For quite some years now I have a 'professional' butterfly net, which can be folded. But before that, I used to make my own. Today I will share my 'recipy' for making butterfly nets.

You will need:
- an old badminton racket
- tule or even better, lace curtains (simple ones, with tiny (<1mm), but not to tiny holes)
- scissors
- needle and thread

Take the cords out of your racket.
Cut out a piece of the tule or curtain, that is al little wider than the circumference of the racket and about as long as your arm.
Fold the fabric in half.
sew along the bottom and side of the fabric, leaving about 2,5 cm of the side from the top and the top open (this is one of the sides you made a little wider than the circumference of the racket). I prefer to sew rounded edges on the bottom of the net, but straight workes also fine.
Cut of the excess of fabric.
Fold the top of the net around your racket and sew it. You can make a nice tunnel to go around the racket or simply fold the fabric round the racket and use the holes that are left after you took the cords out to sew through.
Your butterfly is ready to use.

Please be carefull with the insects you catch. Make sure you don't harm them and they don't hurt you.

DIY Sunday: paper napkin wreath

2010-06-20T07:58:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

It's Sunday and Sunday means DIY-day :) So here's a new and very easy DIY for you:

This cute wreath is made from colourful paper napkins... Try it, it's easy and fun!

You will need a wreath, paper napkins in at least 2 different colours, pins and scissors.

Take a napkin and cut a circle from it.

You will actually get 4 circles (because the napkin is folded ^^)

Now fold one circle to the middle.

And then again to the middle.

See?!

Repeat and wrap your second folded circle around the first one.

Like this.

Fold them.

And use a pin to fix it to your wreath.

Now, pull the layers all the way around...

I think you get the idea of what I am talking about ;)

I used different sizes of circles and different colours to get a cuter look.

Now, be creative with different shapes and colours and styles of your napkin flowers and hang your wreath where it looks cute! :)

Happy crafting,

Katja

Shoes!

2010-06-19T11:12:00.000-07:00

For a long time I only bought shoes that would go with (nearly) everything. Brown and black shoes are must-haves. But what about shoes that pop? They are a great way to make an outfit shine! Do you have any bright shoes? My favs are a pair of yellow stilettos - couldn't resist!

(images from weheartit)

My challenge this week: Wear shoes that pop! Then post your photos on Flickr so we can see :)

DIY -make decorations with sea treasures-

2010-06-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

Hello again :) Just wanted to let you know that i'm happy with all the comments that i got on my last post! If you have made a cute (lantaern) jar, don't forget to leave a link ;) For today i made a post that incluides two easy DIY's. When it's summertime i like summer decorations in my house. So that means besides flowers in cute little vases, that i have all sorts of shells & seastars lying or hanging somewhere. I collect shells when i'm on vacation or at a beach. So i have shells from Greece, France, Marocco, Italy, Bonaire.... and off course the Netherlands ;) I also love shopping in flowershops that sell all sorts of sea treasures like: seastars, sea urchins, shell hangers etc. It always feel like buying little treasures & it always makes me smile (gladly i have a friend who likes it as much as i do).

The first DIY for today -Make your own sea feelin' tray-

You will need:

-a decoration tray, vase, jar etc

-shells

-seastars

-sea urchin(s)

The second DIY -make your own shell photoframe-

- (wooden) photoframe (mine is from ikea)

- hot glue pistol

- lot's of little shells in all kind of shapes and colors

- a cute beach/sea photo or card (i used a card

from a childerens book)

Hope i inspired you enough

to make your own beachy feelin' decoration xD

XO. Vera

Rainbows

2010-06-15T12:37:00.000-07:00

I am knitting a rainbow laptop sleeve at the moment, using recycled and new cotton yarn. Rainbows are ideal for using up your stash.
I found some inspiration online, some of which I share here. If you want to make one of these, beneath each picture, there is a link to the pattern on Ravelry.

Rainbow scarf

Rainbow scarf

Rainbow dress

Rainbow mobile

Warning, this post might make you hungry!

2010-06-14T12:36:00.000-07:00

I love food. I mean I really love food. The bad thing about having a love affair with food is that it is hard to say no to calories. For me, it is really hard to put down the doughnut or walk away from the Pepsi. Eating an occasional candy bar or ice cream isn't a bad thing. I enjoy what I eat and eat what I enjoy.

Sometimes my love of food gets a little out of control (like a daily chocolate bar or I get into the habit of a dessert after every meal) and I have to slow down and take a break from the junk. I find myself with a mini-addiction to things that are really fattening or I notice that my clothes aren't fitting quite right and I need to evaluate my portions.

Last weekend in KC, I was eating a giant burger at Mary's and scarfing down onion rings....and I realized that I needed to take a break from fried food and fattening snacks. (Especially after seeing a picture of my face that looked gross and fat--I am sure you can all relate to those types of pictures!) Disgusted, I made a plan. Monday I started getting up early to workout and I also started a food journal.

A food journal is my way of making myself accountable for what I put into my body. I force myself to write down everything I eat or drink for at least a month so that eating healthy things becomes more of a habit and eating a treat now and then becomes truly a treat. By keeping a record of everything that I am putting in my body, I am more accountable to myself. By putting it in writing I am able to glance over a week's worth of data and see how much water I drank vs. how many Pepsi-cola's. I can see how many times I ate veggies vs. how many times I had dessert.

I also went shopping and bought some oatmeal (I am slowly making myself a fan of this once-despised food!), fruit, veggies, low fat cheeses and soy milk. I've been eating oatmeal or Greek yogurt every day for breakfast....using lowfat vanilla soy milk as a high-protein snack after school, eating low-calorie lunch meat or salad for lunch...and trying to incorporate healthier veggies into my dinners instead of loaded potatoes. I am feeling good (a little hungry) but my cravings for greasy foods have diminished after a week of abstinence. I allowed myself to eat grilled burgers and hot dogs this weekend and have a giant Pepsi on Saturday, but as long as I am not over-indulging every day, I guess I am getting better!

I've used little notebooks for food journals before but I decided to make this one. I folded some paper over and used a nice sheet of kraft for the cover. I put two staples in the spine and covered it with washi and masking tape.

I painted a hot pink rectangle on the cover and drew in some lettering. I also drew some little campers....a fun little summer cover!!

I have a page for every day and I list everything from mustard to water....and sometimes I make grocery lists at the bottom!

What do you do to make yourself accountable for what you put in your body? Do you keep a journal or use an online site for keeping track of what you eat? I am sure there is an app for that...but I like this low tech option, it works for me!